Meals for Uni

kittycat204

Make sure they know about the obvious recipe search engines. eg, bbc food, bbc good food, delicious magazine. The ones you put in your ingredients and it produces recipes are great.

As for recipes, I'll be repeating what others say but, pasta, rice esp risotto which is time consuming but can have anything thrown in, jacket pots.

Make sure they are savy with what they buy.

the takeaway secret book (there is a huge thread on here) is great for making your own maccy d's etc.

we all know from scratch is best so encourage some of the basic like white sauce, tom sauce, throw it all in stew type recipes.

I would teach some easy puddings and cakes too, they can be what drains your money. we all eat them but so much cheaper to make yourself.

prowla

mrs_motivated wrote: »

DD is about to go off to uni (in four weeks to be precise).

Anyway on the student forums i have read with shock that many fresher students cant even operate a toaster or a microwave :eek:.

Now while I am confident mine can manage this and knows enough not to starve, I am keen to brush up her skills in the next few weeks and she is going to be taking over the cooking for me and DD2 on three days a week. The idea is that she will have at least 12, nutricious , cheap and tasty meals to start her off at uni. She had got really into this idea and said if we come up with some recipes, she will shop for the ingredients, looking for bargains etc and wash up after we have eaten! :T

Any ideas anyone?? She will eat just about anything - doesnt eat much bread at all, loves pasta and just about everything else though.

Part of the idea of going away to Uni is that your DD/DS learns how to fend for themselves. (And they'll probably ignore any advice you give them anyway.)

Pasta, beans on toast (still one of my favourite meals), sausage & mash, a good curry, and lots of other things are perfectly viable.

Bunging them a few quid when they come home to visit or every once in a while is something that will be useful to them.

One of the things I started doing at Uni that still lasts with me to this say is not having milk in coffee and not having sugar in tea & coffee (because you quickly learn that if you are in shared accomodation then it'll soon disappear).

Teg-Rem

start a scrapbook of favourtie family meals scaled down or budget recipes you come along and give as a christmas present. also there are sooo many excellent student cook books out there, buy her one, I did for my son and now he is such a good cook he does it for us when he is at home. Once they have the basics the rest just follows, plus they pick up so much at uni from other students and begin to adapt to suit themselves. My son couldn't cook apart from the basics I taught him before he left home. also you find they suddenly eat so much more variety once they come home again. it really is an education.

kazmeister

My son is just entering his 3rd year and said one of the best and easiest things he learned to cook was a roast. He loves his sunday dinner and his mates were impressed when he cooked it for them. He was also impressed how far he could then stretch a chicken, feom roasting, to curry, to sandwiches to soup the roast meats became cheap meals. And surprisingly enough he is talking about getting another student pack from westin gourmet. Last year i treated him to one and he said he saved so much just by not having to keep going to the supermarket. Good luck

stormbreaker

My son got this from an aunt

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Student-Cookbook-Cookery-VARIOUS/dp/0600609650/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1345841847&sr=1-2

And did use it!

He is going into his 4th yr and has found that he is one of the few who actually does plan his meals although he rarely cooks anything from scratch.

He will buy value mince and chicken and jars of sauce. Cook it and freeze in portions. He buys pasta and pesto. Mattesons sausage with pasta and a sauce is a quick easy meal.

He asked for a george formans for his Christmas so he could easy cook chicken and make toasties and the like. Saved him using the cooker if it was filthy which you will find is the norm in student flats:eek:

He likes M&S ready meals too and often looks to see what has been reduced so he can buy and freeze.

Pizza is another student favourite but also an easy pinch for the flatmates. And yes it does happen!

stormbreaker

kazmeister wrote: »

student pack from westin gourmet

I am interested in this . I have found the web page but can't find the student pack? I take it there was a specific one??

TIA

DundeeDoll

Dependa very much on what cooking / storage facilities she has. I had very little in my 1st year (2 rings, one toaster and one fridge between 10 of us!) but 2nd year much better then back to hall 3rd year. So i learnt to buy little and often and cook things that only needed one saucepan

adelight

Most people I knew at uni could cook something, even those who mainly ate pizza and pot noodles could manage a pasta bake or frozen veg and sausages!

I would aim to send her off with basic budgeting skills and how to turn a few ingredients into lots of different meals. E.g., how many different things can she do with a cabbage or a pack of mince?
Focus on meals which include tins and dry ingredients as there probably won't be much fridge/freezer space.
Teach her how to make a good cheese sauce- macaroni cheese or pasta bake will make her many friends

lostinrates

We had no freezer space and very limited fridge space in my halls, and even in the flat share afterwards. Learning to coperate and take turns with a friend or frieds is a really good skill. Making soup and always having marigold stock in for a Cup a soup style broth or quick stock is a vital one imo.

Butterfly_Brain

I would show her how to shop around to get the best deals, we use Aldi as our main supermarket now and just get a few bits that we can't get in there from Tesco, used to be Asda but their prices have gone up too much.
Tortillas are cheap and easy to make and can be used as wraps ( I love corned beef with mayo lettuce and tomato filling or egg and mayo with lettuce. Hmm just off to grab one. We actually prefer them to bread.
They can also be used as a base for a quick pizza, spread with some pasatta, some mozzarella (only 44p a ball) which is ample for a pizza or two some sliced mushrooms or peppers and sliced onion.
Teach her how to make a good cheap soup, y. pud/pancake batter, and sauces.
She will probably be eating from tins and packets a lot of the time, so teach her how to make a CB hash, Tuna pasta, tuna fish cakes etc
Get her to have this site on her computer, so that she always has cheap recipes and tips to fall back on.